In the News (Fri 9 Dec 16)

BruceCockburn (pronounced "co-burn") (born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer/songwriter.

Cockburn was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and attended Broadview and Nepean High School.

Cockburn's second radio hit came in 1984 with the release of his Stealing Fire album and the song "If I Had A Rocket Launcher", written a year earlier after Cockburn had visited Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked before and after his visit by Guatemalan military helicopters.

en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Bruce_Cockburn (918 words)

Cockburn, Bruce(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)

Cockburn's subsequent Canadian itinerary included appearances at such major venues as Massey Hall, (where Circles in the Stream was recorded in 1977), the Ontario Place Forum (where BruceCockburn Live was made in 1989), the NAC, St-Denis Theatre, the Orpheum and Queen Elizabeth theatres, and at the 1984 FIJM and many folk festivals.

Cockburn shared the stage with Murray McLauchlan on a tour of Japan in 1977, and returned there on his own in 1979.

Cockburn had won seven Juno Awards to 2003: as folk singer (or artist) of the year 1971-3 and in 1980-82, as male vocalist in 1981 and 1982, and for best 'roots' album in 2000.

Cockburn already had the words to "Trickle Down." But it was only when he jammed with Milne's band, an avant-garde jazz ensemble featuring harmonic player Gregoire Maret and rapper Kokayi, that the song's improvisational, free-form music took shape.

Cockburn describes the playing of musicians like Taylor, Hodges and especially Milne and Maret, whom he compares to Toots Thielemans, as both inspiring and instructive.

A longtime activist, Cockburn got to know singer Sarah Harmer, who lends her mellifluous voice to "Open," "Don't Forget About Delight" and the epic "Postcards from Cambodia," during a benefit for people who had been arrested at the Quebec G8 Summit.

www.rounder.com /feature/cockburn (669 words)

Bruce Cockburn(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)

Cockburn's first decade of work (1970-1979) is largely literate, singer/songwriter folk-rock, often with a strong Christian tone and mystical, devotional lyrics.

Cockburn toned down his Christian viewpoint for much of the 1980s, partially as a way of disconnecting himself from the American religious right, which he found antithetical to his own spiritual beliefs, and partially to concentrate on more humanitarian, political subject matter.

Cockburn's later 1980s work took on a more streamlined rock sound, and his political agenda was weighted towards environmental concerns, as well as oppression.

Pegged as a Christian mystic in the ‘70s, Cockburn has confounded all sides of his audience, first with a series of decidedly leftist political albums in the ‘80s, albums antithetical to the conservative Reagan zeitgeist of many of his evangelical followers.

In short, BruceCockburn is simply who he is: the creator of some of the most thoughtful, challenging and beautiful songs of the past several decades, a masterful guitarist equally at home with folk, jazz, rock and world music, and a compassionate, caring, restless, ever-searching, world-weary, helpless, socially active, peace-loving, raging bundle of contradictions.

Cockburn met Milne, the leader of avant-garde jazz ensemble Dapp Theory, after one of Cockburn’s New York gigs, and their ensuing collaboration is proof of what can happen when the creative minds of two different generations meet and spark.

That's where BruceCockburn continues to write some of the most outspoken songs of his generation.

Cockburn, an activist who has joined benefits to ban land mines and nuclear power, has noticed how many American artists have become more timid in speaking out for fear of a backlash.

Cockburn, who attended Boston's Berklee College of Music in the '60s, also has some beautiful love songs on the new album, notably "Put It in Your Heart." And other guests such as Jackson Browne and fellow Canadian Sarah Harmer help make it one of the best, and most haunting, records of his 27-album career.

Bruce was also interviewed and played some songs on David Dye’s show, 8 November, on World Cafe.

While Goldsmith went on to produce Cockburn's "World Of Wonders" (1985) and "Big Circumstance"(1988), and is called in to play keyboards from time to time, the pair haven't worked together in that capacity since the '80s, "I would say that it will be classic BruceCockburn," says Finkelstein.

Bruce replies that he did get out on a bike ride, but says he is tired of so many beautiful days.

The big difference is Cockburn's left-wing Christianity, which can be as unrelentingly earnest as Bono's.

Cockburn lightens up a little bit on The Charity of Night; he adds Laurie Anderson-like, film noir monologs to four songs and allows nakedly romantic feelings to emerge in two quietly pretty love songs.

Cockburn's reputation among his fellow musicians is reflected in guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir, Patty Larkin, Ani DiFranco, and Jonatha Brooke--maybe the public will catch up this time around.

Canadian folk legend BruceCockburn was introduced to popular music in 1956 with Elvis Presley, and knew that music was where his heart lay.

In 1967 he had built up a small portfolio of self-penned songs that he felt sounded better when performed alone and decided to pursue a solo career, but it took a year to extricate himself from his band involvements; that was also the year he made his first appearance at the Mariposa Folk Festival.

Although always released in Canada on True North, Cockburn's material went on to be released in the US and the rest of the world on labels such as Island, Millenium/RCA, Gold Mountain/A&M, Gold Mountain/ MCA, and Gold Castle.

BruceCockburn has been delighting and confounding his loyal fans and music critics for over two decades and 20+ albums.

Part of the lack of awareness in Cockburn by the vast record consuming population in the US may be in part due to the poor availability of his recordings, however that changed in 1991 with the worldwide release of "Nothing But a Burning Light " on Columbia/Sony.

While Cockburn has gained a strong reputation for the lyrical content of his songs (to the point of even being quoted by U2 in their song "God Part II") his guitar playing has never suffered from neglect.

www.solidairrecords.com /AMR_interviews/cockburn.html (4013 words)

Amazon.com: Waiting for a Miracle: Music: Bruce Cockburn(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)

If you're familiar with Cockburn only since 1984's Stealing Fire (which garnered some MTV play with "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"), this is a cost-effective way to catch up on the first half of this eclectic singer-songwriter's career.

Cockburn is a masterful guitar player (both acoustic and electric) and a prolific songwriter (he wrote all of the songs here) utitilizing a variety of music styles often with overtly political lyrics--especially on his later work.

BruceCockburn is a world-renowned virtuoso guitar master, a fiery and literate wordsmith, and a compassionate ambassador for humanitarian causes worldwide.

BruceCockburn has been honoured with the Order of Canada, the Governor Generals Performing Arts Award, and three honourary doctorates - one of which is from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Over the course of three decades, BruceCockburn's ability to distill political events, spiritual revelations and personal experience into rich, compelling songs have made him one of the world's most celebrated artists.

Cockburn's solution comes through in some of the most powerful songs of hope he's ever written: the joyous Open, the euphoric Put It in Your Heart and the gorgeous closing Messenger Wind.

Cockburn describes the playing of musicians like Taylor, Hodges and especially Milne and Maret, whom he compares to Toots Thielman, as both inspiring and instructive.

Well into his fourth decade of recording (his self-titled debut was released in 1970), BruceCockburn has not been able to break out of his cult status in the United States despite his enormous popularity in his native Canada (where he has earned numerous Juno Awards).

Of the three new tunes, Cockburn performs solo guitar on the atmospheric "Elegy" with hints of Spanish influences, and "King Kong Goes to Tallahasse" is a lazy blues number that invokes John Fahey at his most melodic.

Bruce is a acoustic guitar virtuoso as well as a composer expressing himself in many styles and rhythms: from blues to jazz to country and folk.

Cockburn's collected work is a journey-both moody and revelatory-into the dark night and the sweet laughter of the soul, around the world with vivid imagery and unflinching observations of human cruelty, greed, courage, and survival through faith, and back home to the peaceful forests and vibrant cities of his native Canada.

Cockburn eventually found his voice as a songwriter drawing upon instinctive spirituality, a keen eye for detail, and a wry sense of humor.

BruceCockburn is now confirmed to perform one song at the opening ceremonies on December 7 for the UN Climate Control Conference.

BruceCockburn's new CD is instrumental, but he also sings his version of the Christmas story in a visit with Liane Hansen.

But Cockburn's new CD focues on his extraordinary talents as a guitarist and composer, rather than his political views.

Cockburn tells Liane Hansen how the recording came to be, and where his music is headed next.

www.npr.org /templates/story/story.php?storyId=5065208 (205 words)

Bruce Cockburn(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)

BruceCockburn (pronounced KOH-burn) is a canadian singer/songwriter who is a super-star in his native Canada, well known and respected among musicians here in the states, but not as well known as he should be by the public.

Bruce gets involved first hand, and learns as much as he can about the subject and tries to help personally in whatever ways he can.

I was lucky enough to attend the World Cafe taping of Bruce at the Tongue and Groove studios in Philadelphia, PA. Through dumb luck, I arrived the same time as Bruce did, so I got to go in and "hang out" with him for quite a while.

It happens to be a fiery, Canadian wordsmith named BruceCockburn, who, with each passing record, defies everything we've come to believe about aging artists living fat on Triple A radio.

Cockburn characteristically resists the jet set persona, stripping any romantic notions we might have about the breakfast-in-New-Orleans-dinner-in-Timbuktu life he has chosen: "Pierced by beauty's blade, skinned by wind / Begged for more -- was given -- begged again / I'm still here, I'm still here".

Cockburn is no stranger to lamenting the tortured human condition, but as far back as the mid-'70s masterpiece In the Falling Dark, his ruminations tended to be more distant, metaphysical and in some cases aloof with cynicism.

Cockburn's jousting days ended with his association with Columbia Records (he's now distributed in the U.S. by Rykodisc), but he retains fond memories of the impromptu skirmishes that occurred during the taping of his annual Christmas radio specials at a New York studio.

For Cockburn, who began his solo career as a coffeehouse troubadour in 1970 with the release of his self-titled album, "folk" is no longer a dirty word.

Another anomaly about BruceCockburn's musical career is that after 30 years of prolific songwriting, his entire discography -- including such classic albums as In The Falling Dark, Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws, Humans, and Stealing Fire -- is still available to the public.

BruceCockburn's music has been described as similar to Neil Young's, only jazzier.

The first albums (at the time, available only in Bruce's native Canada) were straightforward folk albums.

Waiting For a Miracle is a wonderful retrospective of Bruce's 30-year career up to that point, but be sure to get the two-disc Canadian version, not the emasculated single-disc version marketed in the U.S. My personal favorite albums are Stealing Fire and Nothing But a Burning Light.